Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone | Book Chat

Series: Harry Potter #1

Edition: Hardcover, 223 pages (UK)

Genre: Middle Grade/YA Fantasy

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Harry Potter thinks he is an ordinary boy. He lives with his Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and cousin Dudley, who are mean to him and make him sleep in a cupboard under the stairs. (Dudley, however, has two bedrooms, one to sleep in and one for all his toys and games.) Then Harry starts receiving mysterious letters and his life is changed forever. He is whisked away by a beetle-eyed giant of a man and enrolled at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The reason: Harry Potter is a wizard! The first book in the “Harry Potter” series makes the perfect introduction to the world of Hogwarts.

My Review:

Hello bookworms and welcome back! This is my first review of 2016, and what better book to review first than the long-overdue Harry Potter? Finally, FINALLY I am reading this series, after I sent shockwaves to many of you book bloggers when I stated the fact that I have never read this series – I have only, in fact, seen the first three/four movies.

As of today, I can say that I have read and finished the first book in the Harry Potter series. It was lovely. It’s such a strange experience, reading a series that for many people, was their childhood. Being seventeen and discovering this series definitely feels strange, but I love it nonetheless.

Now I sit here thinking: how can I review such a well-loved series? The answer is, there is enough feedback on this series that it no longer needs a professional review from me. So instead, I will continue this book chat by giving you the things I loved about this book (because there was nothing I didn’t like about this series).

It was like watching the movie in my head

As I mentioned earlier, I have in fact seen some of the Harry Potter movies, and I know the first movie very well and it made reading this a very wonderful experience. Now that I have read the book, I applaud the movie producers for sticking so accurately to the book! I am very, very pleased with that. Knowing everything that would happen in the book did not detract from my enjoyment of this book at all.

The humour

I found myself smiling multiple times while reading this. The humour translates well, and I found myself smiling at Ron’s comments and the banter between the characters.

The characters

I have easily warmed up to all of the characters in this series already. I love Hagrid, and I feel that after reading the book, I am much more fond of him in the book rather than the movie. He’s just an adorable character and his love for dragons – I can totally relate, dragons are so cool. Ron is also such a sweet character and I adore him in the book, once again, much more than in the movie. Dumbledore is portrayed as a little bit more strange in the novel than in the movie – in which he is portrayed as kind, wise and powerful.

There’s not much else I can really say about this book except that I really enjoyed it and I am so glad that I have finally jumped on to the Harry Potter train. While I may not be super hyped about it, it’s definitely a lovely, easy read and a total pleasure.

I will most likely not be doing any reviews of the following books, unless I feel there is something more for me to say, but you can keep up to date with my Harry Potter reading journey over on Twitter!

Have you read the Harry Potter series yet? If so, is it one of your favourites?

Personally I liked having seen the movies before reading the books because i’m a big fan of the movies so when I read the books I pictured everything from the movie’s point of view and I got excited over experiencing little bits the movie missed out. I know some people would prefer to read the books first they can experience it without knowing what was going to happen but I just like comparing them to how the movie showed the story 🙂

Oh yeah you read it!! My brothers say that they don’t want to read the Harry Potter series because they say it isn’t funny. That is so not true. And they said that they don’t like wizards and magic wands. Even if you didn’t like witches and wizards you would still like Harry Potter😊 I am so glad you enjoyed the book!! Anyway other than my brothers who wouldn’t like them?

I finally got around to reading the Harry Potter series just last year and had such fun! I definitely think the books get better as you go along and you start to get a lot more invested in the characters and story toward the later books. Im glad u enjoyed the first one though!!

I love the Harry Potter books. It is true that towards the end I did think Rowling was streching things a little too much. Nevertheless I did enjoy them even though they were long. And I was sad that everything ended so soon.

I’m so happy that you finally read it and loved it!!! I hope you keep chugging along because the books only get better from here. My personal favourite is Prisoner of Azkaban but I also loved Order of the Phoenix!

Words cannot describe how much satisfaction I get whenever someone reads this series for the first time. I just wish I could erase it from my head and read it with fresh eyes because oh, what I wouldn’t give to do it all over again. So glad you enjoyed it. The first three books are definitely a bit juvenile (not a bad thing!) but the ones after are much darker and much more complex!

I’m glad you enjoyed it! To be honesty I thought the first book was a nice read, but it certainly didn’t make it to my favorites shelf. It wasn’t till towards the middle of the second book I really began to invest myself. I also think that you don’t quite grasp the hype of a series unless you actually have to wait (and moan and mope) for the next release, so maybe that’s why I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as it seems everyone else did.
Great review!

Yeah, I could say the same thing about the first book. I’m reading a book in between each, so I won’t be binge reading exactly. So I suppose I’m putting myself through a waiting period of my own… Although that probably won’t have the same effect, hehe 😂

So glad you liked it! The series gets better, my favourite is Deathly Hallows as everything is wrapped up perfectly, though Prisoner of Azkaban and the Goblet of Fire were also amazing. Can’t wait for you to read them all! 😀

YAY I’M SO HAPPY YOU LOVED IT 😀 Maybe you will be super hyped after you’ve read all of the books 😉 The first two films are definitely my favourites, since they really follow the books! Though of course I still love the others as well. I can’t wait to hear what you think of the other books 😄

It must be unusual for you Harry Potter lovers! This is definitely more of an account of my reactions and feelings towards first discovering the series.
I definitely did not want to write a professional review on this, because I don’t know how I would’ve done it! 😜

OMIGOSH! this is me exactly! As you already know I’m also trying to get on the Harry Potter train and wasn’t going to do a review but chat about it instead because how? how can you review something like HARRY POTTER??? Are you planning on reading them ALL this year? That’s basically my goal. I haven’t decided if I’m going to read one every month or every other month, but I want to finish the series this year.

Definitely do a chat so I can see your thoughts! 😊 Yes indeed, I couldn’t review this, it was too much pressure on me!
Yep, my goal is to read the entire series this year!
I’ll be reading one as I go, but I’ll have a different book in-between each in the series.

for the first 18 years of my life i never read OR seen Harry Potter my mother wouldnt allow it so once i moved out i decided to finally read it (so many people would be mad when i said i was a reader but hadnt read Harry Potter) and im about to start book 3 soon and i love it so far. although im sure you would agree it does kind of suck going into a book series that you know most of the main plot lines/death/twist to after so many years of hearing about it

Wow, your parents didn’t allow it? That’s crazy. I have a friend whose parents never allowed it either.
So you’re just discovering it too! Wow, we’re on the same boat here then! I’m glad you are enjoying it too, but yes knowing most of the twists and outcomes definitely does make it a bit less exciting.

Ah, it will get better as you go along, so I’m excited on your behalf. I’ve only read it once, and that was when I was 13, so I thought I was quite late to the party, too. I always loved the first 3 books, but then again, all of them were brilliant. So — enjoy!